Typical integrated circuit devices contain multiple printed circuit layers. Each layer is insulated from its adjacent layer except where interlayer connections are selectively created. The individual circuit layers of an integrated circuit device are typically created by a photolithographic process. Each layer is formed on an integrated circuit device during a separate trip through the photolithographic manufacturing area. After each trip, the integrated circuit device is transported to other manufacturing areas where additional processing steps, such as etching and deposition, are performed. Thereafter, the integrated circuit device is returned to the photolithographic process manufacturing area so that an additional circuit layer may be applied. The process is then repeated until the desired number of circuit layers has been created.
During the manufacture of integrated circuit devices, several devices are typically formed on a single silicon substrate which is commonly referred to in the industry as a “wafer”. A single wafer may, for example, contain well over 100 integrated circuit devices. When the manufacture of the integrated circuit devices on a wafer is completed, the wafer is sawn apart such that the integrated circuit devices contained thereon are separated into individual units.
It is often desirable to test integrated circuit devices and other types of electronic devices (e.g., printed circuit boards, printed wiring boards). To perform such testing, one or more probes (sometimes also referred to as “pins”) are typically brought into contact with the electrical input/output contacts or “lands” of a device. In order to ensure that each probe makes reliable contact with its corresponding contact on the device, probes are typically designed to have some degree of resiliency. This resiliency helps to ensure that each probe makes contact with its corresponding contact while avoiding the need to apply an overly large level of force to the probe card.
A problem sometimes occurs during testing of electronic devices when foreign material (i.e., a contaminant) is located on a land of the device. When this happens, the foreign material may prevent the probe from making contact with the land, thus disrupting electrical continuity between the land and the test probe. This is generally known as a “non-contact” issue or fault. Examples of foreign materials that may be present on the lands include debris or particles from packaging materials.
One known solution to the problem described above is to provide a probe having a relatively sharp contact end. Providing such a sharp contact end allows the probe to pierce or cut through a contaminant that may be present in the land area being tested in most cases. This solution, however, has been found to be problematic in that the sharp contact end sometimes damages the land area on the electronic device, thus resulting in degradation in reliability for the electronic device.